Citrus Heritage Run Half Marathon 2020

Friday 1/3
This will be my first time running this race. Honestly I was looking past this race as the Dopey Challenge weekend was coming up next. So for my flat runner, I laid out my 10 year Disneyland Half Marathon legacy runner shirt before going to sleep.

Course map

Flat runner

Saturday 1/4
Race day packet pick-up started at 6 am. I wanted to make sure that I got a parking spot in the Arlington Heights Sports Park parking lot, so I left early enough that I arrived at about 5:30 am. For some reason only one side of the gate was opened from Cleveland Ave so cars had to take turns entering or exiting. It wasn't a problem that early, but eventually someone stopped by and opened the other gate.

I relaxed a bit in my car until it got closer to 6 am before I left the warm car to go pick up my race packet. The weather was cold enough that I wore my gloves as it was close to breaking into the 30's. The packet pick-up process was well organized. They had computers set up for you to look up your bib number. After getting my bib, I moved on to the next booth to get my long sleeve race shirt. I used one of the portapotties before heading back to my car to get my stuff ready for the race.

Bib look-up

Packet pick-up

Long sleeve race shirt

Back of shirt

Before heading to the start line, I met up with my fellow Half Fanatics next to the gear check booth for the obligatory pre-race photo. It was just your usual suspects!

Half Fanatics

Start line

The race started on time at 6:30 am. The first mile was a fast downhill mile down Victoria Ave. That was followed by a right turn on Adams St as the course zigzagged its way over to the California Citrus State Historic Park. There was a bit of a climb going through here, but fortunately most of the small hills were followed by a small downhill. As I made it back to Dufferin Ave, I bumped into my buddy Dexter. I paused for the usual selfie with him before continuing on.

Dexter!

The next couple of miles were run through the citrus groves. It was nice, but there was a bunch of gravel. The pair of shoes that I wore were definitely not designed for off-road running. Once I had reached the turnaround at the intersection of Irving St and Monroe St, most of the climbing was over. I thought I had enough in the tank to run a sub 1:50, but I started to peter out at mile 10. The right foot and IT band were both starting to feel achy. By mile 12 I knew that I would miss that goal, so I took the foot off the pedal and coasted to the finish line.

Finish line

Finish: 1:52:47
Click here for my Garmin data.

Lately I have been weaning myself off of sugary sports drinks as well as electrolyte tablets. I think if I'm in good shape, I don't need those items in races or distances shorter than a marathon. This race was proof of that as I only carried water in my handheld bottle. The SiS energy supplement and the small sample of Sports Beans was more than enough to get me through a half marathon.

After collecting my beautiful finisher medal, I made my way down the finisher chute. Before I got to the usual post race items, I came across a Raising Cane's table where they were passing out lemonade and unsweetened iced tea. I went with the tea. My friend and I jokingly asked if they had any chicken fingers. :)

Finisher medal

Raising Cane's lemonade and iced tea

Post race goodies

After trading race stories with a few of my friends at the finish line, I walked back to my car to drop off some stuff to free up my hands, but more importantly to get my jacket. I then walked back to about the mile 13 marker to cheer on the finishers as well as to watch some of my friends finish their race.

Latino Heat and Andrea

Natalie

Coconutboy

Eviltwin

I hung out with my friends for a bit longer as a couple of them ran well enough to earn age group awards. It took a while for them to find the booth where the awards were being passed out. The awards were hats. My friends weren't too happy with the award as it didn't have the date or even the year on it.

After I parted ways with my friends, I stopped in the Chick-fil-A along my route home to eat breakfast. After finding an open booth, I ordered the 4 Chick-n-Minis meal with hash browns and a small coffee while using their mobile app. Instead of the Chick-n-Minis, they brought out a Chicken Biscuit. Since it was pretty much the same thing, I didn't bother pointing it out to them that the order was incorrect. After I was done eating, I got a refill of the coffee before driving home.

Breakfast

When I got home and took off my shoes, I noticed that my left shoe had picked up a rather large pebble. That's one of the minor flaws with this soon-to-be-retired pair of shoes.

Large pebble

Operation Jack Half Marathon 2019

Wednesday 12/25
After checking the weather forecast one last time before going to sleep, it looked for certain to be a rainy race day tomorrow with the rain stopping at around 9 am. I was certainly not looking forward to a wet race, but I laid out my flat runner accordingly while mentally preparing myself for the rain.

Flat runner

Thursday 12/26
After a year hiatus, the race returned this year. I was glad as I always have the day off from work and it gave me something to do. Per the usual, I entered into Dockweiler State Beach at the end of Imperial Highway. As informed in the final race instructions, parking was at a cheaper rate for the first 300 cars. I'm always down to save a few bucks, so I made sure to show up a bit early. I parked my car in the usual area, in the row right next to the beach path. That way I can see it as I run by during the race.

$5 parking for first 300 cars here for the race

To everyone's delight, there was no rain. It turned out to be a nice brisk day with clear skies. Thankfully the rain had already passed through. After picking up my race bib and t-shirt, I went back to my car to hide from the cold morning air.

Yea for no rain!

Not a very lucky number for Chinese people! :)

Race shirt

As the start of the race approached, I went back outside and got in line to use one of the portapotties before heading over to the start area. The recent rain and the wind made it feel a bit colder than it actually was. There wasn't a Half Fanatics or Marathon Maniacs pre-race photo. However per the usual, the Latino Heat went around taking selfies with everyone. :)

Start line

Almost time to run

After a few last minute instructions from the race director, we started the race at about 7:30 am. With the planes flying overhead, he should probably start using a megaphone speaker to amplify his voice. I was standing near the front and I could barely hear him.

Well, I learned at this race that when I press the start button on my watch while receiving a notification from my phone that it will not start the clock! I actually had to clear the message first. Good thing I noticed pretty early on in the race that the clock didn't start! It would turn out that I was about 10 seconds behind my timing chip. While I didn't really have a time goal, I always would like to finish a half marathon in under 2 hrs. I made sure not to over do things as my legs didn't have a full week's rest from my last race which was run at a harder effort. Although it was fantastic that it wasn't raining, we did get some windy conditions. I'm not a fan of running into a headwind. It was quite demoralizing for me.

Here we go!

I was dealing with leg cramps at right about the very last turnaround with 2 miles to go. My legs seized up a bit during that last mile, so I had to walk way more than I had wanted in order to get them to loosen up. Those pesky leg cramps cost me a sub 2 hr finishing time. I should have easily made it under 2 hrs, but I missed it by 7 seconds.

Finish

Finish: 2:00:06
Click here for my Garmin data.

While I was a little disappointed that I didn't finish in under 2 hrs, I quickly reminded myself that as of late, my legs were starting to feel much better and more importantly the race was for a great cause! It's always good to make sure to have the proper perspective.

After getting my finisher medal, I hobbled over to the post race snack table to eat some bananas and potato chips to help alleviate the leg cramps. I then hung out with the other finishers while cheering on the runners that were still out there on the course.

Finisher medal

Cheering on those running the marathon

Friend running with Old Glory!

My fellow Half Fanatics

After we were done cheering on our friends, a couple of my friends and I drove over to a Chick-fil-A along the way home to eat lunch. I totally forgot that my friend was vegan, but thankfully she was able to find vegan options on the menu. Both the parking lot and the restaurant itself was very crowded, but I was able to find a parking spot and snag an open table. I conveniently skipped the long line by placing my order via their mobile app. I ordered my usual Cobb salad with chicken nuggets, Chick-fil-A sandwich, and a lemonade.

Cobb salad with chicken nuggets, Chick-fil-A sandwich, and lemonade

After we were done eating, it was time to head home. We went our separate ways. Along the way to the freeway, I drove by one of the original McDonald's. One day, I'll have to actually stop by and check it out. They have a museum and they deep fry their apple pies!

San Diego Holiday Half Marathon 2019

Friday 12/20
Since I had a race tomorrow, I swung by Chick-fil-A for lunch. Besides breaking the McDonald's pre-race tradition, I've also been making a push to earn red status on their app. One benefit from eating here is that it helps me cut back on the red meat intake.

Chick-fil-A sandwich x2

After work I stopped by a Chevron gas station along the way down to fill up my gas tank so that I would have enough fuel to make it down to San Diego to pick up my race packet. Once again the packet pick-up was held at Road Runner Sports in San Diego.

Fill up the gas tank

As usual, the packet pick-up process was quick and well organized. After getting assigned a bib number, I was then given a long sleeve hoodie race shirt, drawstring bag, throwaway gloves, mylar blanket, and a brochure with race day information. While I liked that their race shirts were different from most races, I would still prefer a regular short sleeve t-shirt especially for a Southern California race. After I used one of their restrooms, I hopped in the car and went to go get dinner.

Packet pick-up at Road Runner Sports

Long sleeve race hoodie

Swag

For dinner, I drove out to the Chick-fil-A just off of the 15 freeway at Carmel Mountain Rd. This location had become my go-to place as I usually stay at a nearby hotel for most of my races in San Diego. It just so happened that they gave me a free grilled chicken sandwich as a reward on the app. In addition to the free sandwich, I ordered a Cobb Salad with chicken nuggets and an unsweetened iced tea. When my food was brought out to me, they also gave me 2 gift cards good for either a chocolate chunk cookie or a small icedream cone!

Free grilled chicken sandwich!

Chick-fil-A gift cards

Cobb salad with chicken nuggets, grilled chicken sandwich, and unsweetened iced tea

Free grilled chicken sandwich

After I was done with dinner, I drove over to the nearby La Quinta Inn to check into my room. In my room, the front desk manager had left 2 bottles of water, a Nutri-Grain bar, and a hand written note welcoming me to the hotel. I've never had that kind of special treatment before for a not-very-high-tier hotel.

Compliments of the front desk

Letter from the front desk

After I got settled in, I laid out my flat runner. Once again I went with last weekend's race shirt. I then proceeded to watch a bunch of TV before I finally called it a night. I even caught my favorite episode of season 4 for Rick and Morty.

Flat runner

"Stay in the car!"

Saturday 12/21
It was nice staying pretty close to the start of the race. Still I wanted to get there early to make sure that there's no stress in finding a parking spot. Per the race instructions, I parked in the Penasquitos Village parking lot off of Carmel Mountain Rd just in front of the Floor & Decor. The start line was across the street on Penasquitos Dr. After using one of the portapotties, I went inside the very crowded lobby of the Hotel Karlan to get out of the chilly morning air. I bumped into a few of my friends doing the same thing.

I went back outside to meet up with my good friend as well as to take a pre-race photo with the Half Fanatics. After the picture, we went to drop off her gear bag and then get into the start corral. Before settling behind the 1:40 pace group, I went up to the front to say hi to my friend who was warming up.

Half Fanatics pre-race photo

Warming up with Dan

Start corral

The race started promptly at 7:30 am. Since this race was a net downhill course, I went into the race wanting to see if I could run a sub 1:50. At the very least, I want to put in a solid effort. Everything felt good through the first 8 miles. The remainder of the race was a grind to the finish line. The last little out-and-back on Sorrento Valley Rd wasn't cut short this year, but I was running on fumes. I took a walk break after reaching the mile 12 marker and I had a bit of trouble convincing my legs to get going! I knew that a sub 1:50 was in the bag, but still I had to pull it together during that final mile. During the final stretch, 2 fifteen year olds blew by me and another runner as if we were both standing still. Oh to be young again! :)

From Dan the man!

Must be nice to be 15

Finish line

Finish: 1:48:00
Click here for my Garmin data.

I was glad that I was able to finish the race in under 1:50 with a couple of minutes to spare. It helped a lot to be familiar with the course. I was also happy that the course wasn't short like it was back in 2017 when I ran the race for the first time.

After getting my finisher medal and a bag of post race goodies, I waited for my friend to finish. I knew that even though she was feeling a bit under the weather that she wasn't that far behind. If she's healthy, she's usually ahead of me.

Finisher medal

Post-race goodies

The post race area with the vendor booths was extremely crowded. Eventually we went our separate ways as I went to go search for the location where they were handing out the Route 56 Challenge medal. After obtaining my extra medal, I made my way over to the final corner to cheer on my fellow runners before catching a bus back to my car.

Route 56 Challenge medal, side 1

Route 56 Challenge medal, side 2

Once I got back to my car, it was time for me to drive into work to check if everything was up and running after a recent system update. After confirming that everything was good, I began the drive home. Along the way, I stopped in at the Chick-fil-A in Brea to grab a quick lunch. Both the parking lot and the restaurant was packed. Fortunately I found a parking spot with minimal hunting and I was also able to find an empty seat at a long table. I conveniently skipped the line and placed my order via their mobile app. I ordered the Cobb salad with chicken nuggets, Chick-fil-A sandwich, and a lemonade. This has started to become my go-to meal at Chick-fil-A!

Cobb salad with chicken nuggets, Chick-fil-A sandwich, and lemonade